Pokémon: Just won the championship, the newbie growth system is here!

Sitting on an outdoor bench, Ye Luo lazily stretched and exhaled white breath from her scarf.

It's getting cold.

"It turns out that using teleportation to escape before the police arrived was the right decision."

Ye Luo instructed Gardevoir to use the [Teleport] move to teleport back to the shopping street they had previously passed.

Then I saw police cars with sirens blaring, one after another, heading towards the Pokémon Center.

The advance team has arrived, and reinforcements are continuously being provided from the rear, indicating that this serious incident is being taken very seriously.

However, it has nothing to do with fallen leaves.

"If we had been any slower, we probably would have been stopped by the police who had provided full support, and we would have had to give a statement."

Feeling it was too much trouble, Ye Luo decided to slip away first and sit on a bench with Gardevoir to rest.

It's called a rest, but it's actually a compliment.

[What kind of praise are you going to give me?]

Gardevoir's telepathic abilities detected the connection and transmitted it to his mind.

Pokémon can't work for free; they deserve a reward for doing a good job.

"What does Gardevoir want to eat? This is a shopping street, there's quite a lot of food here."

While we were in the shopping street, we bought some of their favorite foods.

Meloetta: [I want to eat nut balls, a different flavor~.]

Meloetta used telepathy to cover Gardevoir's voice and answered first.

It has also been a major contributor to the fight against crime.

Although Ye Luo asked Gardevoir, she did not refuse Meloetta's request.

"Give me two servings of fruit balls, one of oranges with wasabi powder, and the other... one of cranberries with plums."

"Here we go again. I told you the fruit balls from the family tree are delicious, you can't forget them once you've tried them. They'll be ready in 10 minutes."

While waiting for the fruit balls to be made, Ye Luo also bought a serving of fried noodles from the food stall next door.

Mmm, delicious!

Meloeta ate the delicious food with a happy expression; for her, the reward was more than enough.

Umbreon silently ate its spicy Berry Dumplings for lunch.

Ye Luo also ate fried noodles with bamboo chopsticks, gazing at the Pokémon Center in the distance from the second-floor platform in the commercial street, praising the Pokémon's hard work.

I don't think this counts as a compliment.

Gardevoir stared with its large red eyes at the fried noodles placed in front of it, thinking it was unfair.

[Isn't this just lunch?]

Ye Luo usually cooks lunch, but today she helped a lot and only got this fried noodle dish in return. She felt it was a huge loss.

"....."

It had thought about this a lot before, and only Gardevoir felt it was at a disadvantage, while Umbreon and Meloetta were enjoying the benefits immensely.

Ye Luo remained silent, simply eating her fried noodles.

Pokémon generally don't care about such gains and losses. They have a more primal value system and their actions are more instinctive than logical.

Trainers provide meals, and Pokémon cooperate with their commands in battle; this is a fairly common cooperative relationship.

However, there are a few exceptions. They have their own unique logic, which is different from that of ordinary Pokémon. It is very logical and may be based on anthropology.

They also haggle with trainers.

[Fallen Leaves, are you listening?]

Gardevoir's telepathic thoughts echoed in its mind: helping to punish evil, and giving it a bowl of fried noodles was clearly unacceptable.

[Imagine if I hadn't teamed up with Umbreon; that human thief would have taken us away and planned to sell us on the black market, making enough money to live a life of luxury.]

This is Gardevoir using telepathy to read the other person's thoughts and learn what will happen.

Although it's only a possibility, if those people succeed, it's very likely that the trainer will never see them again.

Leaffall will also lose six Pokémon that accompanied him on his journey, a very serious consequence.

[I prevented this from happening, but all I got in return was a bowl of fried noodles. I can't accept that.]

Most Pokémon don't have such rigorous logic as this Gardevoir.

But there's nothing we can do; this Gardevoir of Leaffall is quite special, probably because it's large and has a more active mind.

Pokémon vary in size; Gardevoir's average height is 1.6 meters, while this one is nearly 1.8 meters tall.

"So what do you want to do?"

I feel I deserve the compensation I am entitled to.

The deserved reward? What is that? Before it could say for sure, even Ye Luo, the trainer, had no idea what his Pokémon was thinking.

Gardevoir was about to say that it wasn't really a request that was too difficult for the trainer when she blinked and explained telepathically.

[Can it be like before?]

"Hmm? Which 'before'?"

Gardevoir smiled.

[That is, before evolving into Gardevoir.]

Ye Luo recalled the scene with Ralts back then, how it refused to interact with him and instead headbutted him upon meeting.

"Uh, I don't think I can take Gardevoir's headbutt right now."

Back when Ralts was at his peak, he could catch a Headbutt if it came at him. Now, if Gardevoir tries to headbutt him, he'll probably end up in the hospital.

[Not at that time, but after evolution.]

That was during Kirlia's time. She would no longer headbutt him, but she only became more affectionate towards trainers in the latter half of that period.

Back then, Kirlia was the type you could put on your lap and eat with.

"You wouldn't be thinking of...."

That's it.

No way, Gardevoir is 1.8 meters tall now, but before Ye Luo could refuse, it had already used its telekinesis to switch seats.

Ye Luo could not see any scenery at all, as it was completely blocked by the shadows of the Pokémon.

It reminded him of when his Fiery Selkie first evolved into Primarina, and he wanted to jump onto his trainer's shoulder to interact with him like when he was a kitten, which resulted in Ye Luo being pinned to the ground.

Seeing this childish scene, Umbreon sighed as it ate the berry in its mouth.

Although Gardevoir is admitted to being very logical and intelligent, its mind is still the same as that of a Pokémon, unchanged.

Perhaps to make up for the regret of not being close to its trainer when it was young, Umbreon rarely has overly intimate interactions now, while Gardevoir tends to get too close to its trainer, which is somewhat awkward even from the Pokémon's perspective.

"Aww~ (That's enough!)"

[snort.]

Gardevoir glared at Umbreon, showing no sign of embarrassment.

They even took advantage of my kindness.

[Back when we were in Kirlia, I would pat her head when we ate together.]

Gardevoir is like a nagging Pokémon, constantly urging its trainer to do things. It's a Pokémon that demands its trainer to act, making it truly unique.

Ye Luo had no choice but to pat its head, while Gardevoir happily ate its fried noodles.

The reward was still fried noodles, but with the addition of interacting with the trainer.

Ye Luo doesn't mind interacting with Pokémon and having a pleasant lunch with them; it's part of the fun of a trainer's journey.

Gardevoir is just too big; you have to hold your hand up to pet its head.

"I can't eat lunch in this position."

Ye Luo could only let Gardevoir finish its lunch first, and then finish off the rest of his fried noodles.